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Wednesday, September 16, 2026

SO HOW WAS OUR LATEST TRIP?: Part 3

I've divided our 5-week trip into three phases:

  • Part 1:  Iceland and the Azamara Journey cruise to watch the Total Solar Eclipse.
  • Part 2:  Our stops in Montreal and Vancouver.
  • Part 3:  Silverseas Silver Whisper cruise from Vancouver to Honolulu.

But before I finish with Part 3, some news of the day.

The estimate, which covers the war’s direct costs through Aug. 1, is in line with the Pentagon’s most recent public accounting from July, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress that the war had cost $37.5 billion. A later report from the Defense Department's inspector general determined that the conflict cost an estimated $33.4 billion between February 28 and June 30. 

But the new CBO analysis finds that the price of the war is continuing to rise, estimating that the government will spend another $2 billion to $3 billion each month the conflict continues. It also notes that the war has significantly depleted U.S. munitions, including air-defense interceptors, potentially reducing the military’s capacity to respond to another major conflict.

Crude futures rise to their highest level in four months as supply worries increase with threats to alternative supply routes out of the Middle East such as the outage of Saudi Arabia’s pipeline to the Red Sea. “Bias remains clearly on the upside,” Nikos Tzabouras of Tradu says in a note. “The loss of this crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz can prolong the market shortfall and delay normalization, while dwindling inventories leave limited capacity to absorb further shocks.” WTI settles up 4.4% at $105.83 a barrel and Brent gains 2.9% to $108.75 a barrel. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

    • Third time?  Yes, this was again a resolution which doesn't carry the force of law.  So can be ignored by the president.
    • Several Republicans had to vote with Democrats to pass this measure.
    • If these votes don't matter, why do Democrats keep bringing this resolution to a vote?  Simple, to hurt Republicans in the mid-term election, for the voting public detests this war.
    • According the a New York Times/Siena poll yesterday, 64% of Americans think that Donald Trump's decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong decision.
    • The Silver Bulletin today shows that 34% of Americans supports this war.
    • 48 days to the mid-term elections.
  • About DOD Secretary Pete Hegseth:
    • Republican Rep. Thomas Massie found a way to force the House to vote on Thursday to IMPEACH Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
    • This situation is so embarrassing, that Speaker Mike Johnson decided to close down the House tonight!  They will return on November 9, after the mid-terms.  The Senate will continue to operate for the next three weeks.

Oh, about your president, from TIME.

How rich is Donald Trump? Forbes, which has tracked his fortune for decades, estimates the President is now worth $7 billion. That is $2.7 billion more richer than when he won the 2024 election.  


You need to be worth $4.4 billion to make the Forbes 400 list of America's richest people.  

  • Elon Musk, I guess, is not now a trillionaire.  Ranks #1 with $908 billion.
  • However, Donald Trump actually fell 44 spots in this ranking, dropping to #201.  He had a net worth of $7.3 last year, but is now down to $7 billion.

Now, on to Part 3 of our latest trip.  If you want to read those postings on board the Silver Whisper, pick what you want from this chronological listing.  I will below pick a few highlights.


  • First, a few things about the Silver Whisper.
    • Is a quarter century old, and only ranked #10 of Silversea's 16 ships.  The newer ships took the top spots.  Interestingly enough, these luxury ships ( Silver Muse, Siver Moon, Silver Dawn, Silver Nova, Silver Ray) have a Japanese restaurant.
    • Compared to the Azamara Journey, the Silver Whisper did serve a variety of sushi and sashimi daily, plus a decent miso soup, and Japanese dishes such as miso glazed salmon and chicken teriyaki.  The cuisine was, overall, very good.
    • The staff was also outstanding.
    • There were complaints about some cabins being too warm.  Frankly, I was almost always too cold.
    • With a passenger capacity of only 382, this relatively small ship seemed to roll a lot, making walking around always a challenge.  I once fell in my room, but only a light fall.  Amazingly, I never fell walking around, dancing and so forth.  Whew!
    • I slept well, even though my bed was really skinny.  Must have been a single bed.
    • We paid extra for premium WiFi, but it was worth it.  Worked at a high level throughout the cruise.  I can't include videos in my blog without this option.  We each had access at any time.  The Azamara Journey only allowed one person to use the WiFi, and that was a huge pain.
    • I felt this was about the best cruise I've ever taken.  
  • The big problem was that the Silver Whisper would have to contend with three hurricanes heading for Hawaii.

  • We were well welcomed to the ship.  And remember, click on those arrows in the bottom right corner to get a full-screen experience.  At the end, click again the the same area.
Departing Vancouver.
We ordered caviar, vodka and champagne for our departure.
Met Captain Julian Albiel on my birthday, September 6.
Had lunch at the Grill.
Caviar for dinner.
The open bar scotch was Macallan, and gin was No. 10.  The best wine we had was from Sicily.
One evening, with The Bar pianist, Garth, made up four drinks.  Click on that for details.
A typical dish for dinner, Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with seared scallops and basil leaves.

Brunch in The Restaurant.

The Silver Whisper approaching Kailua-Kona.
Chocolate Extravaganza was memorable.
Had our final caviar assortment during departure from Kona.
Dinner at La Dame, the French restaurant:  caviar (again), foie gras and truffles.
Finally, arrival into Honolulu.

One of our very best highlights was our Chocolate Extravaganza night.  Today is National Choose Your Chocolate Day.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2026

SO HOW WAS OUR LATEST TRIP?: Part 2

Yesterday provided highlights from Iceland to Montreal, including our experience of the total eclipse of the sun on the Azamara Journey.  Today, will feature our stops in Montreal and Vancouver.  Tomorrow, Part 3, will be our ten days on the Silverseas Silver Whisper.  If you missed them, here are the full Montreal and Vancouver postings, in chronological order:



Here is a professional travelogue of Montreal by fox Tours and Travel.  Our highlights:

  • On Day 1 in Montreal, I mostly paid tribute to Dolly Parton:

Goodbye Dolly.

  • All about Montreal.
    • The city is an island, 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, connected by 20 bridges.
    • Is 315 miles east northeast of Toronto, 122 miles west of the national capital, Ottawa, and 160 miles southwest of the provincial (like a state in the USA) capital of Quebec, Quebec City.


  • Montreal and Quebec city are in the province of Quebec, while Toronto and Ottawa are in Ontario, which borders Niagara Falls.
  • Has the second-largest metropolitan area at 4.2 million to Toronto, with 6.2 million.
  • Takes its name from Mount Royal, a triple-peaked mountain in the middle of the city.
  • 90% of locals speak French, which is #2 to Paris in total French-speaking people.
  • Became the third UNESCO City of Design in 2006, with Berlin and Buenos Aires.
  • Held the 1967 World's Fair, known as Expo 67, and hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics, where Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome was the U.S. pavilion.  In 1995 became the Biosphere, and converted to Space for Life in 2021.
  • We stayed at the Sheraton Le Centre.  View for the Executive Lounge on the 37th floor.
  • I guess our tour of Montreal was the main highlight.
    • Chinatown was established in the 1890s by early railway workers.  Area survived various urban redevelopment and expropriation threats to remain the cultural soul of the Asian community.
A market we strolled through had a variety of colored veggies I never saw before.
    • Montreal is a university city, with 50 major degree-granting college level institutions.  #1 in Canada is McGill, ranked #27 globally.
  • Last stop was on Mont Royal.  That icon in the far background is Olympic Stadium.
  • We did not do much more in Montreal.  We did have some excellent Asian meals, for there were Chinese, Korean and Japanese restaurants in very close walking distance from our hotel.
    • First lunch was at Kan Bei, where I had a hot-sour soup and dollop of scotch.
  • Next day, lunch at Hanyang Jokbal.  Very authentic.  The Kim Chee was special.
Of course, with a green bottle of Jinro shoju.
    • Dinner at Sakura went well.  Had sukiyaki.
    • On our final full day, went to Reuben's, a Jewish restaurant, to get their sandwich special.  Really enjoyed it in our hotel room with a view of Montreal and Mont Royal, red wine provided by the hotel as a birthday gift, and a bottle of Molsen's.
Then an Air Canada flight to Vancouver.  First, entry into an excellent Airport Lounge.  My mostly Mexican lunch was aided by a drink of Cucumber Gin Caesar, which was like a Bloody Mary, but tomato juice and vodka replaced by Clamato and cucumber gin, Aberfeldy scotch on ice, and two kinds of Molsen beers.
The plane meal featured chicken teriyaki, bolstered by Johnny Walker Black Label.

Our stay in Vancouver amounted only to two nights.  
  • So we did not do much, except hang around our hotel, the JW Marriott.  
  • Hotel gave me a birthday gift.
  • It was constantly raining, and we had been twice to Vancouver in the past year, so saw everything.  
  • Won about a hundred bucks at the hotel casino.  
  • Only noteworthy mention is that soccer ball.
    • Vancouver was one of hosts of the recent FIFA World Cup.
    • Their geodesic dome was converted into what looks like a FIFA World Cup soccer ball.
    • View from our room.
We then boarded the Silverseas Silver Whisper.  Tomorrow, the final and Part 3 of our latest trip.
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